The upgraded sorting machinery should help grade sweet potatoes more precisely and catch defects workers may miss, said Jimmy Burch, Burch Farms’ co-owner.

The machinery should also more efficiently spot visual defects including dark spots and cracks and thus improve retail shipments, Burch said.

Burch Farms installed the machinery in mid-September and invested $200,000 in the equipment.

Nash Produce tests ozone for storage spuds

Nash Produce Co., Nashville, N.C., is experimenting with an ozone generator to reduce fungicide use on sweet potatoes.

Thomas Joyner, general manager, said the Food and Drug Administration-approved ozone generator essentially eliminates needing to apply fungicide to prevent soil rot in the cured potatoes shipped out of storage.

“If it is effective as I think it will be, we will essentially stop using fungicide when we ship them,” Joyner said.

“Because there’s no residue, this application can also be used on organic sweet potatoes. The ability to not have to use any fungicide is a good thing.”

Introduced in August, the bags hold four or five potatoes and require eight minutes of microwaving time.

The bags are marketed for consumers seeking convenience, said Stewart Precythe, president and chief executive officer of the Faison, N.C.-based grower-shipper.

“I really think this will be a hot item,” Precythe said. “It’s perfect for working mothers as well as fathers as it’s easy to microwave and prepare. They won’t have to buy four to five potatoes for the family, which can be expensive. With this one bag, they could help prepare a meal for the whole family.”

Precythe said buyers have been receptive to the product.

Vick Farms adds labels, bagging machinery

Vick Family Farms, Wilson, N.C., added bagging machinery and developed new labels.

In mid-September, the grower-shipper installed a bagging system that allows it to pack 3- and 5-pound bags.

The Giro machinery includes the capability of packing 10-pound bags, said Charlotte Vick, partner.

During the past season, Vick Family Farms added new labels.

Vick Family Farms also recently introduced its Carolina Gold label for domestic shipments.

It offers its 6-kilogram Carolina Gold cartons and Pure Gold cartons for exports.

Last fall, the operation introduced its Grande Gold label for jumbos. The company previously packed the large sweet potatoes in a standard industry box top, Vick said.

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About the Author:

Doug Ohlemeier

Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist.
Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments.